Managing a Creative Life in a Chaotic World

How to Illustrate Time

Have you ever noticed how time tends to sneak by us when we’re not looking? Our work seems to swallow us up. I used to know what day of the week it was. Not so much any more. The other day I wrote the wrong month down on a check (Yes, on rare occasions I still write checks). And now and then I can’t remember what year it is. Now that’s sad, but also a symptom of not taking the time to, well, mark the time.

As an illustrator, though, my job is to be observant, and sometimes within my work, I need to illustrate time-or at least it’s passing. But how DO you show the passing of the years, months, and hours?

The first step is you actually have to stop long enough to note its earmarks. Take yesterday. I went for a brief stroll though my garden, something I do every day. At first it appeared to be still in the hard grasp of winter, but when I stopped long enough to really look, I discovered nature was providing all sorts of clues that a new season was at the door–unfurling nectarine buds, rain-kissed iris, absent birds returned. It made me realize that, while time is a man-made contrivance, I can draw it IF I see it .

I started thinking . It’s too easy to incorporate clocks into my art. That always feels like a cheat. How else can I illustrate time? I looked around and found a well-worn corner on a patio seat cushion, the pool level had dropped, clouds had moved across the sky, the fire pit cover was rusted, termites had gone to work on a piece of firewood. That’s when I realized TIME is PROCESS. That I can illustrate.